Public transport fares in the Barcelona area will rise in 2024 after five years of freezing. They will do so at around 6.75%. This will be the case if the proposal that the Metropolitan Transport Authority (ATM) will propose at the board of directors meeting next Tuesday is approved, as El País has anticipated and La Vanguardia has confirmed. With this increase, the aim is to reduce the worrying deficit of the system that includes the subway, buses, trains and trams, aggravated by the inflation of recent times, which has had a strong impact on energy prices.
The tariff increase planned by the ATM, a consortium participated by the Generalitat, which has the majority, the Barcelona City Council and the Metropolitan Area (AMB), however, will not affect all titles equally, say the sources consulted. Those of the most recurring users – the T-Usual (monthly pass) and the T-Jove (quarterly for travelers up to 30 years old) – will surely stay with the current prices or will increase slightly. Thus, the update would concentrate on the tickets and passes for less frequent users, such as T-Casual (10 trips).
There is another key element: the bonuses that precisely the most frequent titles (T-Usual and T-Jove) have of 30% from the central Administration that the ATM complements with 20% so that they are half price. The intention is to maintain this reduction but until the Government approves it it will not be implemented. These aids also affect the accounts of the metropolitan public transport system since until they are made effective the deficit is felt even more.
It is also pending for the central Executive to specify what the free provision for young people and the unemployed announced by President Pedro Sánchez will be like for all public media. Until now, you only travel for free (all users who wish) on the Rodalies and Renfe medium-distance networks.
